Irreducibility of the Igusa tower (Q1034212)

The author gives a new proof of the irreducibility of the Igusa tower over a Shimura variety of PEL-type associated to a classical group of type \(A\) or type \(C\). The novelty of the proof lies in the use of (mainly) characteristic \(p\) methods as opposed to mixed characteristic methods in other proofs by the author in [Clay Math. Proc. 13, 187--203 (2011; Zbl 1272.11081)]. The significance of characteristic \(p\) proofs is discussed in the introduction.